Landlord Atlas

How much notice must a landlord give before entering in Alabama?

Verified July 9, 2026 All Alabama topics →

Alabama landlords must give tenants at least two days' notice before entering a rental for inspections, repairs, services, or showings, and may enter only at reasonable times — and the statute expressly allows delivering that notice by posting a note on the tenant's front door stating the intended time and purpose.

No-notice entry is limited to an exclusive list: emergencies, court orders, statutory extended-absence situations, reasonable cause to believe the tenant has abandoned the premises, and — only if the tenant signed a separate general access notice — showings to prospective tenants or buyers within four months of lease expiration, in the prospect's company. Two practical shortcuts are built in: a schedule or general notice issued more than two days ahead covers recurring work like pest control without fresh per-entry notice, and a tenant who requests a repair is deemed to have consented to the entry that performs it. There are no clock-hour limits, only 'reasonable times,' and the landlord may not use access rights to harass the tenant.

Alabama entry notice at a glance

Advance notice required 2 days
Notice standard At least two days' notice of intent to enter, and entry only at reasonable times (35-9A-303(c)) — encoded as 48 hours; render as '2 days.' The notice need not be handed over personally: posting a note on the primary door of entry stating the intended time and purpose of the entry is a statutorily permitted notice method. Under 35-9A-141(3), 'day' means calendar day, but a period ending on a weekend or official holiday runs to the next business day.
Permitted reasons With consent (which the tenant may not unreasonably withhold): inspection, necessary or agreed repairs, decorations, alterations, or improvements, supplying necessary or agreed services, or exhibiting the unit to prospective or actual purchasers, mortgagees, tenants, workmen, or contractors (35-9A-303(a)). Without consent, an exclusive list (35-9A-303(b)): emergency; court order; as permitted by §§ 35-9A-422 and 35-9A-423(b) (extended-absence and remedies provisions); showings to a prospective tenant or purchaser within four months of lease expiration IF the tenant signed a separate general access notice, with the required two days' prior notice and only in the prospect's company; and reasonable cause to believe the tenant has abandoned or surrendered the premises. A general notice or advance schedule given more than two days ahead for repairs, maintenance, pest control, or health/safety service substitutes for per-entry notice (35-9A-303(d)), the tenant may consent to shorter notice, and a tenant who requests repairs is deemed to have consented to entry to perform them (35-9A-303(e)).
Emergency exception Yes
Time-of-day restrictions No clock hours — entry is limited to 'reasonable times' only, both for noticed entry and for signed-general-notice showings.

Notes and caveats

notice_hours encoded 48 from the statutory 'at least two days' notice' (35-9A-303(c), read verbatim twice: FindLaw + Justia, corroborated elaws) — render as '2 days', not '48 hours'. Drafting quirk to keep out of page copy but know about: the 2011 rewrite (Act 2011-700) merged the notice duty into a sentence literally about 'show[ing] the premises' ('the landlord may show the premises at any reasonable time by giving the tenant at least two days' notice of the landlord's intent to enter'), whereas the 2006 original commanded flatly 'the landlord shall give the tenant at least 2 days' notice of the landlord's intent to enter'; the two-day standard is universally applied to all noticed entries and the section's structure ((d)'s scheduled-service exception, the general harassment bar) supports that reading. The door-posting method is unusual and page-worthy — the 2006 Alabama Comment frames it as a fallback after attempted personal notice. The (b)(4) showing right is commonly misstated: it requires a SEPARATE signed general notice (not a lease clause), operates only within four months of lease expiration, still requires the two days' notice, and the landlord must be accompanied by the actual prospect. Emergency entry needs neither consent nor notice. Applicability: chapter 9A is statewide with no county-population carve-out (35-9A-121); the 35-9A-122 exclusions (hotels, agricultural leases, employment housing, condo owners, post-sale seller occupancy up to 36 months, etc.) are the only scope limits.

Statute citations

How this record was verified: Alabama's code is LexisNexis-published and the official ALISON code viewer serves JavaScript-rendered pages a fetcher cannot read (legacy alisondb host is dead), so verification pairs independent current-code mirrors with official as-enacted session-law text: Ala. Code §§ 35-9A-121, 35-9A-122, 35-9A-141, 35-9A-143, 35-9A-161, 35-9A-163, 35-9A-201, 35-9A-303, 35-9A-421, 35-9A-441, and 11-80-8.1 each read verbatim on at least two independent hosts (Justia 2025-code edition via direct HTTP, FindLaw current through 2024-12-30, al.elaws.us) with every load-bearing figure matching (one-month cap and its three exceptions, 60-day return, 90-day forfeiture, double-deposit penalty, two days' entry notice, 30-day/7-day periodic termination notice, seven-business-day cure windows), and the full text of HB 287/Act 2006-316 (the URLTA enactment, with Alabama Comments) read from the state judiciary host macon.alacourt.gov, against which whole-chapter negative checks were run (no late-fee cap, no grace period, no deposit interest, no escrow requirement). Act 2014-279 (SB291, eff. 2014-07-01, 35->60-day and 180->90-day changes) verified via matching credit lines on three mirrors; no official act PDF fetchable. Pending-bill check 2026-07-09: 2026 Regular Session adjourned sine die; only adjacent bill HB80 (eviction writ procedure, passed House 103-0, Senate fate unverifiable) — no bill touching the four topics.